Block Ahmadinejad from entering US: Congressmen

Ahead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s intended visit to address a UN conference on nuclear non-proliferation next week in New York, several US Congressmen on Friday demanded to deny his entry into the country.

Washington: Ahead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s intended visit to address a UN conference on nuclear non-proliferation next week in New York, several US Congressmen on Friday demanded to deny his entry into the country.

Over a dozen Republican Senators wrote a letter in this regard to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and about half a dozen Congressmen from both the Republican and Democratic Party in a statement demanded that the US must not allow Ahmadinejad to travel.

"This is preposterous, and allowing it to happen will make a mockery of the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states and terrorist groups. There is simply no compelling reason for Ahmadinejad to be allowed to enter the US," the Senators wrote.

"As such, the US Government has the legal authority to deny Ahmadinejad`s request and bar his entry-even if he is transiting only to the UN. We ask that you exercise that authority," demanded the Senators.

Signatories to the letter addressed to Hillary were John Cornyn, John Barrasso, James Inhofe, David Vitter, John Ensign, Richard Burr, Bob Bennett, Sam Brownback, Johnny Isakson, James E Risch, Jon Kyl, Roger Wicker, George LeMieux, and Jim DeMint.

"Iran, under President Ahmadinejad`s leadership, has a documented history of threatening the interests and security.”

“Allowing Ahmadinejad to enter the US would serve only to grant this man a symbolic stage from which to spew his rhetoric against our nation and our allies in the global war on terror," they said.

"The US must not allow this dangerous tyrant to use our freedoms and our obligations as a host country for the UN to force himself upon our country to spread his message of hate and violence," demanded another group of Congressmen in a statement including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Kendrick Meek, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Connie Mack.

"This is the leader of a regime which calls the US the `great satan,` threatens to wipe Israel off the map, bankrolls violent extremists across the globe, and helps fund insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan which kill US troops," they said.

"Make no mistake: Ahmadinejad`s attendance will make a mockery of a conference meant to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It will also make a mockery of US efforts to secure global support to stop Iran`s nuclear weapons pursuit, and it will turn the conference into yet another forum to attack Israel on a global stage," the Congressmen said.